For The Love Of Port

The 1980 Ferreira was a soft and elegant Port with sugary scents and a light ruby color in the glass. It had a dried fruit taste similar to a sweet pink grapefruit in addition to hints of caramel and cinnamon. It was a tiny bit hot and acidic on the finish but still a great lighter style Port for everyday drinking.

Sean C. 89/100
Moses B. 89/100

I had this VP recently and had a more enjoyable experience. It is one of the really fine 1980 VPs out there, more refined and elegant than the powerful Dow and Graham's versions from the same vintage. Not better, just rounder edges at this point.

I thought this bottle had suffer from either bad storage or heat as it was showing oxydised flavours both on nose and palate.

The nose was still showing some nice flavours of floral notes, tobacco leafs and earthy. Oxydised notes are more present on the palate with the stewed fruits, it was dry and acidic on the finish, rather short. 14.5/20

This vintage is a crapshoot from our 2 cases '80 Ferreira. Each bottle has a different outcome as it was shipped and stored upright from Portugal. This particular bottle was the best so far out of the 5-6 I have tried.

I wonder if they had been poorly stored or at least affected by some contact with warm days and nights. Such a different experience from the one I had recently. It just goes to show there are only good bottles and the rest is hard to go by. This is why I am such an advocate of buying 'em young, storing them yourself and that way you know where they've been and how they've been stored. You may pay a bit for that privilege, but I have been happy to do so in the past. It sure beats grabbing a bargain on the open 2ndary market, only to have "decent" experiences with wines that should show really well. I know that Alex B. is also a fan of this particular Port. Well stored bottles, are quite solid.

Roy Hersh wrote:I wonder if they had been poorly stored or at least affected by some contact with warm days and nights.

This is why I am such an advocate of buying 'em young, storing them yourself and that way you know where they've been and how they've been stored. You may pay a bit for that privilege, but I have been happy to do so in the past.

The store we bought them at had Petrus baking in the store window Just goes to show the vitality of port that most are showing well we bought! The Ramos '85 we bought there (probably 6-8 cases) have all been great. I would singal them out as not having ideal storage conditions and would not buy a first growth from them.

I hear you... I am doing some of both, but trying to keep my cut off at 1995 unless my arm is twisted.

The current prices on new VP is what distracts me the most. 2003 vintage or 80-95 vintage; similar prices... I'll take a gamble on older stuff.